# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 3) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 29, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157 "2026-01-29T18:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 183
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3641 "2026-10-19T21:47:24Z")
I am lodging a formal complaint. Most of the coffee polls don’t have an option for those of us that don’t drink coffee. As soon as I find that complaint form there will be hell to pay. > [@Procrustus](#): > > Since we’re discussing tuna, I’ll just add that canned tuna is one of the two or three foods that I just cannot eat in any form. Not in a sandwich, not in a casserole, not in any form. I like tuna sushi, or seared Ahi. But I will, not could not, eat from a can, not with a fan, canned tuna I cannot stand. And canned tuna is about the only fish of any kind that I will eat. Certainly not sushi. > [@Velocity](#): > > The gambling question: I’d consider myself to have lost $5,000. Even if I began with only $50, I ended up having $5,000 at one point, so that’s how much I lost at the end. If I had $5,000 in my hand and now I don’t, I lost $5,000. Of course that will never happen. If I am up I will set a limit as to how much I’m still willing to risk. So if I’m up $5,000 I’ll most likely walk away but if I’m still having fun I might set the limit where I won’t allow my stack to go below $4,000. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3642 "2026-10-19T23:39:13Z")
The flag goes to half-mast regardless of my opinion of the politician. Protocol should be set by public policy and elected officials, not by unelected bureaucrats. If I start altering policy to suit my personal grudges, the opposition will indulge in Deep State conspiracy theories . . . and they will be right. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3643 "2026-10-20T00:29:15Z")
Yeah, i put the flag whatever my boss tells me to put it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3644 "2026-10-20T01:14:12Z")
Yup. Flag goes to half. If somebody asks me why the flag’s at half mast, I may sound quite cheerful while answering. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3645 "2026-10-20T01:20:38Z")
It’s a “don’t fight the hypothetical” situation for me, in that if I gambled, and if I got to $5K, I would have stopped at that point if not well before. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3646 "2026-10-20T02:26:20Z")
I was briefly a Member of Dr Demento’s club. Got a couple of CDs out of it. Doubtless, as a kid i was a member of others, but memory fails me. I think Sheriff John?? He did wish me Happy Birthday. maybe Weird Al when he was new?? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3647 "2026-10-20T02:34:35Z")
When I was around age 3 or 4, my parents got me a membership in the Banana Splits fan club (it was my favorite TV show). When I was in high school and college, I was a member of the ELO and Yes fan clubs. When I was in grad school, my two roommates and I started a tongue-in-cheek fan club for a production team member on _Star Trek: The Next Generation_, because he had a fun name. It blew up a bit, and we wound up with a few hundred members. The subject of our fan club wound up getting profiled in the Star Trek Fan Club magazine, due in part to our silly little fan club, and the author of the article interviewed me for it, as well. My wife and I were able to travel out to Los Angeles, and he took us on a tour of the sets (at that point, it was _Voyager_, onto which most of the TNG production team had moved). He even has a page on the Star Trek Wiki, and our club is mentioned in it. [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Al\_Smutko](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Al_Smutko) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3648 "2026-10-20T13:26:01Z")
I joined the Lord of the Rings fan club in '99. Now my name is in the credits of the LoTR Extended Editions. Bow to my fame. /s ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3649 "2026-10-20T15:59:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The subject of our fan club wound up getting profiled in the Star Trek Fan Club magazine And I was actually a member of the Official Star Trek Fan Club back in the early 1990s, when I was in middle school. I don’t remember what membership in the fan club got me, other than a subscription to that magazine. But besides that, when I was in the 8th grade one of the official school sanctioned clubs was in fact a Star Trek fan club. It was actually one of the more popular clubs, as I recall. Although really it was pretty much an excuse to get together and watch tapes of Star Trek episodes during the school day. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3650 "2026-10-20T17:58:12Z")
I was in Uncle Willies Eyeball Buddies (The Residents fan club) many years (decades!) ago until it disbanded. I thought of it though when I saw that The Residents were going to play in Asheville. I talked my wife into going to the show yesterday and we had a good time. It brought back pleasant memories of long ago when such music was very important to me somehow. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3651 "2026-10-20T19:57:27Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I joined the Lord of the Rings fan club in '99. Now my name is in the credits of the LoTR Extended Editions. > > Bow to my fame. /s Wow! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3652 "2026-10-20T20:02:05Z")
Well, along with several hundred other people. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3653 "2026-10-20T20:09:39Z")
Not exactly a fan club, so I voted “no,” but I did subscribe to the Jethro Tull fan newsletter for a couple years at the end of the 80s. The mimeographed pamphlet would be mailed from England to my Chicago dorm room address. What was that thing called? Ah, yes – _A New Day_ (named for the opening track on their second album). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3654 "2026-10-20T20:09:41Z")
I don’t recall ever joining any fan club; not even the MMMS (Merry Marvel Marching Society). By the time I became really interested in music in the mid-1970s fan clubs were decidedly uncool. Then, by the time I was an adult in the 1980s, fan clubs seemed childish. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3655 "2026-10-20T21:36:10Z")
I joined the Pearl Jam fan club in 1991 which gave me a 4 digit member number. Fan club members always got first shot at tickets for shows. For a while in the early 2000s, tickets were allotted by member number so I had front row seats for two shows. I let my membership lapse around 2010 because the band had refused to play shows in the south for some years and that kind of pissed me off. Still a casual fan, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3656 "2026-10-21T01:26:00Z")
I said no to fan clubs, but when I read @kenobi_65 's post I wonder if I should have said yes. Many years ago, when we were teenagers, my best friend and I went to a major league baseball game. We chose a very obscure utility infielder on the home team and made a banner proclaiming that we were his fan club. (We weren’t.) (He probably didn’t have one.) (We thought we were being highly ironic.) Favorite reactions: 1. “Who’s he?” 2. “What are you, his sons?” So maybe the answer is yes? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3657 "2026-10-21T01:34:51Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > And I was actually a member of the Official Star Trek Fan Club back in the early 1990s, when I was in middle school. I don’t remember what membership in the fan club got me, other than a subscription to that magazine. You reminded me that I was a member of the official Star Wars Fan Club in the '90s and early 2000s; it, too, came with a magazine (_Bantha Tracks_), and a few little bonus tchotchkes (Star Wars Micro Machine ships, stickers, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3658 "2026-10-21T05:21:02Z")
That reminds me of this good This American Life episode (skip to 12:30), about a group of friends who fool an obscure band into thinking they are real, hardcore fans, singing along to the band’s songs: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ji4JoOLj1_0/hqdefault.jpg "Mind Games | This American Life | Episode 286") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji4JoOLj1_0) ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3659 "2026-10-21T13:20:07Z")
I tend not to get overly enthusiastic about much of anything, so joining a fan club of any kind has never occurred to me. It’s about the office, so the flag gets lowered. The poll states that it’s at a government “building” so it gets lowered to half-_ **staff** _, not “mast”. Yes, picky-picky, but it’s one of those things that make my eye twitch. If asked to spell Newsom(e) as it was spoken to me I wouldn’t know if it had a terminal E or not off the top of my head. If asked to spell the name of the Governor of California, I probably wouldn’t remember what his name is. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3660 "2026-10-21T20:50:53Z")
I think the limited item question depends on what the item is. If it’s something used by an individual person, like food or toothpaste, why should my wife and I be limited more than two single people just because we live together? But if it’s something that applies to the house as a whole, like window cleaner or a gardening product, then we’re cheating. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157.md?page=182) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157.md?page=184)